Clearcast’s Sodastream Lunacy

Posted on December 7, 2012

Unless it is a covert humanitarian protest against Sodastream’s decision to put its global HQ in an illegally occupied Jewish colony in Palestine, by banning the company’s latest ad Clearcast just put two fingers up to creativity, competition and sustainability.

A few weeks ago Clearcast refused to issue clearance to the new SodaStream ad. In its own words,

SodaStream submitted a finished filmed ad to us for approval on Tuesday 20th November without a pre-production script. On Thursday 22nd November we had been able to review it against the BCAP code and concluded we were unable to approve it. In our view, its visual treatment denigrated other soft drinks which put it in breach of the BCAP code (Rule 3.42).

Watch the ad and decide for yourself. Then bear in mind that the ad has been allowed to run in Australia and the United States. I did, and have come to the conclusion that the only denigration happening is the damage to Clearcast’s integrity. Unless of course its mandate has been changed to prevent competition, discourage sustainability, deter creativity and defend Palestinian liberty. At least if it was the latter, it might have a point, but that’s an even bigger can of worms.

Thankfully, the £39 million that the bottled drinks industry and Sodastream’s competitors spend on UK TV advertising is safe. Phew.